Program 437
Encyclopedia
Anti-satellite weapon
Anti-satellite weapons are designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic military purposes. Currently, only the United States, the former Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China are known to have developed these weapons. On September 13, 1985, the United States destroyed US...
weapons program of the U.S. military
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
. The US anti-satellite weapons program began development in the early 1960s and was officially discontinued on 1 April 1975. Program 437 was approved for development by U.S. Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
Robert McNamara
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
on November 20, 1962, after a series of tests involving high altitude nuclear explosion
High altitude nuclear explosion
High-altitude nuclear explosions have historically been nuclear explosions which take place above altitudes of 30 km, still inside the Earth's atmosphere. Such explosions have been tests of nuclear weapons, used to determine the effects of the blast and radiation in the exoatmospheric...
s. The program's facilities were located on Johnston Island, an isolated island in the north central Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
History
Program 505, a similar program based out of the Kwajalein Missile Range in the North Pacific, was already up and running by 1962 and was the world's first operational anti-satellite program. The project did complete successful tests, but because it used a slightly shorter ranged (modified) Nike Zeus anti-ballistic missileAnti-ballistic missile
An anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter...
it was discontinued in 1966 in favor of Program 437's Thor
PGM-17 Thor
Thor was the first operational ballistic missile of the U.S. Air Force . Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate range ballistic missile with thermonuclear warheads. Thor was in height and in diameter. It was...
ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
.
Program 437's Thor missiles were to be armed with a nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
, which would destroy or disable targets through nuclear explosion
Nuclear explosion
A nuclear explosion occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from an intentionally high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission, nuclear fusion or a multistage cascading combination of the two, though to date all fusion based weapons have used a fission device...
or the resulting electromagnetic pulse
Electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
. Though the program would routinely run successful tests with unarmed Thor missiles, the only high altitude nuclear explosions were conducted through Operations Argus
Operation Argus
Operation Argus was a series of nuclear weapons tests and missile tests secretly conducted during August and September 1958 over the South Atlantic Ocean by the United States's Defense Nuclear Agency, in conjunction with the Explorer 4 space mission. Operation Argus was conducted between the...
, Hardtack I
Operation Hardtack I
Operation Hardtack I was a series of 35 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1958 in the Pacific Ocean.Operation Newsreel was a series of three high-altitude nuclear tests conducted as part of Hardtack I. The individual tests in the series were Orange, Teak and Yucca.-Test Blasts:-...
, and Dominic between 1958-1962. Operation Argus operated out of the South Atlantic, while Hardtack and Dominic conducted their high altitude tests from the Johnston Island facilities.
Some results of these tests, Dominic's 1962 Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States of America on July 9, 1962, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Defense Atomic Support Agency ....
test in particular, presented concerns throughout the program's existence. In addition to the wide spread effects of the nuclear explosion's electromagnetic pulse, which inadvertently damaged many satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s as well as land based electronics as far as 1500 km away, a large amount of charged particle
Charged particle
In physics, a charged particle is a particle with an electric charge. It may be either a subatomic particle or an ion. A collection of charged particles, or even a gas containing a proportion of charged particles, is called a plasma, which is called the fourth state of matter because its...
radiation was released by the nuclear explosion. This radiation became trapped by the Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field is the magnetic field that extends from the Earth's inner core to where it meets the solar wind, a stream of energetic particles emanating from the Sun...
, creating artificial belts of radiation 100 to 1,000 times stronger than background levels
Background radiation
Background radiation is the ionizing radiation constantly present in the natural environment of the Earth, which is emitted by natural and artificial sources.-Overview:Both Natural and human-made background radiation varies by location....
. The heightened levels of radiation eventually crippled one-third of all satellites in low orbit, while rendering seven others completely useless, including the first commercial communication satellite ever, Telstar
Telstar
Telstar is the name of various communications satellites, including the first such satellite to relay television signals.The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962...
.
It was eventually concluded that the due to the wide radius of damage, wartime deployment of Program 437 would result in indiscriminate destruction of friendly and enemy satellites, potentially destabilizing or escalating otherwise non-nuclear conflicts. In addition to these problems, the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
s deployed numerous military satellite
Military satellite
A military satellite is an artificial satellite used for a military purpose, often for gathering intelligence, as a communications satellite used for military purposes, or as a military weapon.-Description:*Star Wars program...
s, making specific targeting impractical or ineffective. Furthermore, the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
had a limited supply of Thor missiles, and all military resources (especially financial) had become increasingly strained with the US involvement in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
In October 1970, the Department of Defence
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
transferred Program 437 to standby status as an economic measure. Test launches were no longer run, and the weapons system would take fourteen to thirty days to intercept targets, requiring components stored at Vandenberg Air Force Base
Vandenberg Air Force Base
Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command ....
to be airlifted
Airlift (military)
An airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via aircraft.Airlifting consists of two distinct types, strategic and tactical airlifting...
by a C-124 Globemaster II
C-124 Globemaster II
The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, nicknamed "Old Shakey", was a heavy-lift cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California....
to Johnston Island for deployment. These obstacles further degraded the weapon's suitability and effectiveness for war.
Demise
On 19 August 1972, Hurricane Celeste destroyed most of the facilities and guidance computerComputer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s at Johnston. Though the systems were able to be restored by September 1972, unspecified damage caused them to fail on 8 December. The program became fully repaired and restored by 29 March 1973, and remained in standby status until the anti-satellite mission on the Johnston Island facilities were ceased on 10 August 1974. Program 437 was officially terminated on 6 March 1975 at the request of NORAD, and on 1 April 1975 the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
terminated funding for any anti-satellite programs or development. In January 1977, at the end of his term of office, then President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
issued a directive for the DoD to again enter research and development on an operational anti-satellite program. It was an order his successor, President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, followed through on, and anti-satellite technology has continued to be in some form of research or development since.
Operations
Two missiles were kept on alert at Johnston Island, and two were kept in war reserve at Vandenberg AFB, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Program 437 Thors could intercept low earth orbit
Low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
ing satellites up to an altitude of 700 nautical and a cross-range distance of 1500 nautical miles (2,778 km). Two missiles were readied for launch, one as primary launcher and the other as a hot back-up in case of primary failure. Launch windows were as small as one second, also necessitating the dual missiles. Once the missile's trajectory hit the target's orbital path, the one megaton Mark 49 warhead would explode, setting off a blast radius of five miles (8 km).
Chronology
- 1964
- 28 May - first Combat Training Launch (CTL)
- 29 May - Program 437 declared Initial Operating Capability (IOC)
- 10 Jun - Program 437 declared Full Operating Capability (IOC)
- 20 Sep - President Lyndon Johnson reveals existence of Nike-Zeus and Program 437 anti-satellite weapons during campaign speech
- 1965
- 7 Dec - first 437AP launch
- 1966
- 18 Jan - second 437AP launch (successful)
- 12 Mar - third 437AP launch (successful)
- Late 1966 - Air Defense Command and Air Force Systems CommandAir Force Systems CommandAir Force Systems Command is a former United States Air Force command. Its headquarters was located at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland...
plan for ten 437AP launches, under Program STONE MARTEN - 30 Nov - Program 437AP is formally cancelled by Headquarters USAF
- 1967
- 31 Mar - CTL conducted
- 1968
- 14 May - CTL conducted
- 20 Nov - CTL conducted
- 1970
- 27 Mar - Final Program 437 CTL launched
- 4 May - Deputy Defense Secretary David Packard directs the Air Force to accelerate the phase down of Program 437 to standby status by end of fiscal year.
- 1972
- 19 Aug - Hurricane Celeste hits Johnston Island, damaging Program 437 launch facilities and computers
- 1975
- 1 Apr - Department of Defense officially terminates Program 437
Photo gallery
File:Program_437_1.PNG|Program 437 Thor at SLC-10W
File:Program_437_2.PNG|Program 437 Thor at SLC-10W
File:Program_437_3.PNG|Program 437 Thor at SLC-10W
File:Program_437_4.PNG|Program 437 Thor at SLC-10W
See also
- 10th Aerospace Defense Squadron10th Aerospace Defense SquadronThe United States Air Force's 10th Air Defense Squadron was an air defense unit located at Wheeler AFS, Hawaii. However, the 10 ADS is historically known as the sole operator of the United States' second nuclear-tipped anti-satellite weapon, Program 437.-Emblem description and significance:On a...
- operators of Program 437 - Fractional Orbital Bombardment SystemFractional Orbital Bombardment SystemThe Fractional Orbital Bombardment System was a Soviet ICBM program in the 1960s that after launch would go into a low Earth orbit and would then de-orbit for an attack. It had no range limit and the orbital flight path would not reveal the target location...
– the Soviet orbital nuclear missile system, deployed operationally 1969–1983 - Nuclear weapon delivery systems
- Outer Space TreatyOuter Space TreatyThe Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is a treaty that forms the basis of international space law...